AGING WITH KINDNESS AND GRACE

 

A series of essays….

JOE BIDEN’S AMERICAN PROMISE TOUR—JANUARY 28, 2018

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Believing that age is merely a number and we’re only as old as we feel, my heart aches yet is thrilled at the same time with regards to President Biden’s decision to place country over self and country over party. He knew he chose the right running mate. Still—my love and respect for this man, coupled with the desire to have him move on into a second term, will never diminish. In fact, his courage in dropping his campaign and backing his highly capable running mate has heightened my appreciation of his selfless act of love for the people.

Growing up in the 1950’s in Northern Indiana, religion and (especially) politics were never topics bounced back and forth between my parents, or any relatives in general. Which kind of coleslaw, creamy or classic, Mom would make this year for the family reunion, or who got brand new boots that winter, or which burger restaurant we chose for our Saturday night treat were the closest topics up for discussion and debate.

Because of their open silence regarding politics and world events, I often wonder if the adults in my life even cared about what was happening outside of their little bubble, especially when the cruelty of the Joseph McCarthy era, the ideological clash between communism and capitalism, ushered in the decade following WWII.

Maybe this was a good thing and I should be thanking my lucky stars to have been saved a lot of worry and grief through my highly vulnerable years. It was the assassination of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy in the 1960’s that quickly pulled me into the political scene. Politics became the bridge between my high school years and college career.

I wasn’t the only one. Students on campuses all over the country harbored doubts about their political leadership and discussed, as well as challenged ways to make a positive change going into the future.

Last Sunday, President Joe Biden reconfirmed for so many of us our belief in this good, selfless man running our country. I am proud to have been a part of the 36% who supported the Biden re-election campaign and believe that Joe Biden has led us with intellect, grace and dignity.

Some say that with the exit of Joe Biden in this presidential race, Kamala Harris is the ‘shot in the arm’ that Democrats need to move forward with their political agenda. If you really want to know about a person, you talk to their history: a District Attorney for San Francisco, Attorney General for the State of California, a United States Senator, and Vice President under Joe Biden.

Joe’s life lessons via quotes help to define the man: “Grandpa said, ‘Joey, keep the faith.’ Grandma said, ‘No Joey, you must spread the faith.’ “

My emotions have run full circle within the past several days. My heart is settling into a satisfied rhythm. I will find extreme comfort in Joe’s leadership in the next six months and in Kamala Harris come next January. As I have stated before, Joe knew he made the right choice in his running mate. Now it’s Kamala’s turn to do the same. 

(I believe that Senator Mark Kelly would be a phenomenal choice for Kamala Harris as her running mate—for many solid reasons.)

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

KEEPING AMERICA SMART

 

A series of essays….

STAYING STRONG AND UNIFIED UNDER THE BIDEN/HARRIS TICKET

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

To keep America smart, you must assume that it was smart at some time in the past.  

And, it was....before Washington D.C. became 'the swamp' following the November 8, 2016 election, it had been a semblance of a fair and balanced ecosystem that incorporated all people, faiths, and ideologies within its borders. In a heartbeat, it was being drained of its kindness and left vulnerable and open to greed, fear, and foreign influence!

You would be correct in believing that we've always been vulnerable to all of the above. And, I could now list a litany of opportunities by the USA that many of us believe could and should have been resolved years ago such as the constant struggles with women's rights, racism, gun control, climate change, and immigration.

What we are fighting hard for today is to retain our democracy, reinstate check and balances to aid in a more stabilized balance of power, and save our Constitution from collapse by insuring that its general principles remain functioning as our founding fathers believed they would in order to protect all of us, not just the few who believe that money is more powerful than kindness and love.

When I see people fighting for our rights such as Representative Adam Schiff who has taken great pains to clarify exactly why the impeachment inquiry had taken place, tears come to my eyes. 

Said Schiff, "When the founders provided a mechanism in the Constitution for impeachment, they were worried about what might happen if someone unethical took the highest office in the land and used it for their personal gain and not because of deep care about the big things that should matter." 

Schiff concluded by saying, "The president believes he is above the law, beyond accountability. And, in my view, there is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes they are above the law." We are most fortunate to have this gracious man, Adam Schiff, fighting for us and the Constitution of the United States. 

Unfortunately, Drumpf’s handpicked members of our Supreme Court eye this arrangement by our nation’s founders as wrong and haVe given this ‘horrible example of humankind’ the right to stand above the law with the ‘gift’ of immunity. This is not justice. This is stupidity and greed talking to us. And, its consequences may be fatal to all of the people of this great nation.

Yesterday was a much simpler time. I was young, accepting of authority, and embraced life through a child's eyes. Authoritarianism, Humbleness, Consolation, Maturity, and Loyalty all helped to mould, shape, influence, and build my character as an adult.  

I am, significantly, older now. I have lived through so much while making many decisions along with minor/major life changes. I have become book-smart, responsible, commonsensical, often goofy and carefree, with one of my greatest attributes being the ability to listen to what others have to say. Everyone is important and everyone has something they need to tell someone else. But, not everyone has the patience to....listen to them.

Aging and living a full life has taught me how important life's lessons are, whether good, bad, or indifferent.

While I was living out my childhood under the thumb of the authority figures who impacted my everyday life, I, more than likely, was making mental notes about what was going on within my own small world. Did I know or care about who the President of the United States was, what his or her job or purpose was? Probably not as much as I should have.

I know today, July of 2024, after a wildly successful first term as President, Joe Biden has reached deep within and pulled us out of a stinking hellhole specifically created by a twice impeached president who now, after leaving office, has 34 felony convictions under his belt. We all deserve much better than this!

Basic control over what others may say and do.....has always been the reason behind Drumpf’s existence; reversing Roe v. Wade is his success story. Removing our democratic roots in order to create his own dictatorship can be labeled his future plan.

I refuse to go backwards into the future!

The definitive progress made by mankind in the last several decades that was guided by mutual respect and understanding for one another and Mother Earth is about as far back in time as I choose to go. Most of us have worked way too hard to have all of our long fought battles reversed by people who want to shake-up our government, take back jobs that have been mechanized and are now non-existent, who fail to understand that lies and deception are the new rules and guidelines set-up by the very person they voted for in 2016, and is attempting to take charge again in 2024, and take the benefits of a decent life of education, health care, earned rights of Social Security benefits and Medicare back into the dark ages.

If 'The Dumbing-Up of America' serves the handful of enormously rich and greedy characters that desire to deny Americans their basic freedoms, hope will go by the wayside. The once great United States of America will tumble into a heap of rubble that cannot and will not be respected by the rest of the world. This decline has already become evident to many of us after Drumpf took office.

Is it too late, fellow Americans, to 'Keep America Smart?' If it isn't, we had better get our act together NOW and do something to renew our hope and faith in a nation that is quickly melting into the hands of foreign powers, unhealthy greed, and the frigid bonds of dictatorship. Maintaining the works in progress, as well as future endeavors, by our President, Joe Biden, is the best way to do this. With Vice President Harris beside him, we are in highly capable hands!

I offer strength to Joe and Kamala who are working so hard to correct the wrongs and reintroduce the right approach to our future and well-being. May their forward progress not be halted by squeamish politicians and supporters this late in the game. Supporting Joe and Kamala should be our main priority right now if maintaining democracy is our goal.

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

A STORM WITHIN A STORM

 

A series of essays….

A WORLD JUST BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The words are here. They’ve never gone away. They have been swirling around in brackish water, once a sweetly flowing stream, made saliferous with many tears shed and clouded by weeks of sadness and uncertainty. My tears. My uncertainty.

Self doubt can be the bane of many of us, the bêtes noire or black beast capable of swallowing-up the positive notions that may (or may not) control the creativity and drive within us. Well, the bêtes noire bit down on me—hard—several weeks ago and, like a poison running through my veins, I became weak and disillusioned, toxic to myself and my writing. 

I’m not saying that I am out of my funk just yet. This crazy, lethal weather we’ve been experiencing lately has me running for cover and praying for all of the poor souls who have been forsaken by the fires, flooding, and tornadic winds that cost the lives of loved ones, destroyed homes, and scattered so many tangible memories.

But the storm inside my head has been even more fierce than the wind, lightening flashes, and inevitable thunder that follows on any given stormy day; often filled with doom and gloom. The self doubt had seeped into my very being (my soul) and, like a nasty tornado, twisted my confidence as though it were a tree that happened to be in its path of destruction. 

Even writing about my experience now, while opening-up to all of you, is making me nervous. Making me anxious. I may not be ‘out of the woods’ yet, but I know the words are swirling around in my head and I am able to see them as clearly as my inner being will allow while putting them together to create full sentences compiled (honestly) of truth and understanding. I love what I do. To have it blurred or set aside because my inner demons have exploited their appropriate levels of existence, literally, breaks my heart.

I do love what I do—telling my stories in the best way I know how. Opening up in such a way that you, my readers, know it comes from my heart. If I can’t achieve this status, I will withdraw for a time, like I have done these past few weeks. I will collect my thoughts, rehash my raison d’être, refresh my energy in such a way that I feel comfortable sharing them with you. 

Time. Patience. Energy. Love. That’s what it takes to filter the brackish water and return it to a sweetly flowing stream. 

The weather isn’t improving in the least and I sit here typing this under severe thunderstorm warnings for our area. Our dog has retreated into her safe place and we keep waiting for the electricity to wish us a sudden adieu. The AccuWeather map tells the whole story and I insert it here for everyone to see my disappearing state draped in the ominous colors of yellow, orange, and red, indicating powerful storms that appear to be lasting for several more hours. 

THE STATE OF MICHIGAN IS WEARING
A BLANKET OF ENERGY THIS MORNING!

So, I am sending this out shortly while the weather gods haven’t totally abandoned us. I miss all of you and promise that this Blog has me building up more self confidence each day. I do see the light and will continue on my journey without false smiles on my face or cobwebs filling my heart and soul. I have so much to be grateful for. I hope you have not given up on me in the interim because that light I see just keeps getting brighter and brighter with every word I type. 

Wishing all of you Joy and Happiness!

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

A PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES AND MORE

 

A series of essays and poems….

                          THE PINK AND PURPLE MIST OF THE SMOKY MOUNTAINS

~A HISTORY OF BEAUTY, WAR, INDIGENOUS AMERICANS, AND HARD WORK~

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

I feel as though I am only borrowing the innocent things that surround me: the sky, an old barn, people in history, memories of mine and others, the soil, grass, and stone of a place we particularly love, and time itself. But I am placing them neatly and securely within containers without depth or dimension; digital photographs taken to preserve actions in time that excited my being then as they do at this exact moment.

I am pleased to think that my photographs, trapped within the ethos of time, past and present, reach out to those I might capture in the near and distant future. It warms me to believe that our own future transcends time and space and provides hope for us far beyond our known experiences.

I write about these experiences from a poetic perspective and become one with the history of beauty, war, Indigenous Americans, buildings that communicate with me, and make tangible all of the long, hard work our forefathers endured throughout the years in order to create a better life for us.

WINDOWS

With blades of grass and stone, alike, immortally drenched in 

                    rain and blood,

The history that surrounds this dampened paradise attracts 

                    the brave and the bold. 

I can feel the past running through my lug-bottom soles 

                    as I walk each path and trail. 

With weapon of choice strapped ‘round my neck just waiting 

                    to capture and behold,

Each footstep marked in the crooks and crannies…marching,

                    marching without fail.

Dilapidated barn just around the bend, if only you could talk to

                    me on this sunny day,

I know what you might say to this wayward traveler so keen 

                    on capturing your image:

“Cling righteously to what’s transpired, before my hat of rusty tin and swayback walls near collapse. Lambs and calves were born and sheltered within my bosom before the stink of automobile exhaust, acid rain, and time contributed to my inevitable demise.”

As hard work’s sweat soaked through clothes and bloodied

                    hands gripped the plow,

These men and women, born of guts and glory, raised 

                    offspring who endured hard times;

Knew the true meaning of survival as they faced every

                    challenge known to humankind.

Were the encircling mountains a blessing or a curse as

                    Sunday’s bells began to chime; 

Truly massive hurdles that bone-weary bodies translated into 

                    obstacles so unkind?

Somehow, we often remember you in cold, gray tones of         

                    silver-coated copper plates,

With each image bearing the bitter smell of the 

                    photographer’s flash powder light.

Have the bright and vivid colors of Indigenous Americans 

                    blended with your own,

After the Cherokee tribes, forced to leave, began to shed 

                    their Trail of Tears?

Sadly, ten years later, Congress grants them money used to 

                    purchase their own land.

We delight in all your glory, from trees of burnt sienna to fields

                    in every shade of green.

And, purple misted mountains slowly blackening in the fading 

                    light of the setting sun!

You grace us with your ‘pure light’ from early morning hours 

                    into the magenta and blue evenings.         

We drive long distances to see you; envying those who already 

                    call you home. 

Western North Carolina, an illuminated gemstone that fills me 

                    with eternal joy!

Wishing all of you who nurture, have nurtured, love and guide a child (all children) through the world we live in—and help to make them the strong, kind, loving beings they were meant to be! Happy Mother’s Day, this Sunday and each day of the year!

Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

Photo Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved